The Factory Version of Two-for-One Beers: Industrial Strength

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Two-for-one specials work great for beers and tacos, less so for industrial equipment. That doesn’t stop companies from trying.

Manufacturers have long lusted after the possibility of one-stop shopping or cross-selling as an engine of growth. The idea is that once a company already trusts a manufacturer to make one kind of equipment that then opens the door to sell a breadth of other products and capture more dollars per customer.

The classic example is the GE Store, a framework for the loosely connected set of gas turbine, aerospace, health-care equipment and railroad ...